5 stupid excuses for not getting life insurance

Life insurance might be among the least sexy topics in the universe. It includes numbers, salespeople, and the idea of death. Yay!

However, none of those unappetizing facts are an excuse for not educating yourself when it comes to life insurance. It’s an essential part of disaster-proofing your life. If you catch yourself mumbling any of the following lines, it’s time put on your big boy/girl pants and start adulting.

“I’m healthy and never get sick”

You better hope karma isn’t a thing. Could you really be tempting fate any more than you are by daring the powers that be by claiming that you will never sick?

You might be young, you might be healthy, you might even be at the absolute peak of human physical prowess, but even Superman had a weakness. Glass half-full thinking is a positive thing, but pretending that your full glass is indestructible is a recipe for disaster. If you have people that depend on you financially or otherwise, the fact is that it’s not that you have never gotten sick, it’s that you haven’t got sick – yet. Don’t leave your loved ones in such a vulnerable situation simply because you refuse to admit you aren’t superhuman.

“I’ve got so many other bills that I can’t afford life insurance”

If you’re single and have no dependants, it’s one thing to roll without life insurance. If you have a family that is already operating with a pretty stretched family budget (what family isn’t?), you seriously need to ask yourself what sort of situation you’d leave behind if tragedy struck. If you’re living paycheque-to-paycheque right now, what would happen if your paycheque disappeared? Those bills that look daunting right now would look downright insurmountable.

“It’s all so complicated, I don’t have time”

It’s really not that complicated. When you’re relatively young and have a family, your chances of passing away are fairly low. The overall risk — if spread out amongst the whole the whole population – is a small one. That means it only requires a relatively small amount of money each month to protect against your risk of death. However, if you decide to take on that risk by yourself without life insurance, you’re rolling the dice on an unbelievably large bet.

If curling up at night with an insurance contract isn’t your idea of a good time, just keep things simple and go online to compare quotes on basic term life insurance from a few providers. Term life insurance is straightforward: for a small amount each month, your family gets the money they need if tragedy strikes. There is no “investing component”, no “retirement planning strategy”, or anything complicated. Universal and/or whole life insurance takes a bit of homework to understand, but term life insurance is cheap and simple.

“Someone is always trying to sell me something I don’t need”

Admittedly this is my least favorite part of the insurance industry. There are two ways to protect yourself from the slimy salesperson trying to sell you the latest and greatest insurance coverage (that no doubt includes a big juicy commission for them):

1. Educate yourself and take a few minutes to read about the different types of coverage available while considering what your current needs are.

2. Purchase your life insurance online where there is no sales pressure and where it’s super easy to comparison-shop.

“I’ll get it eventually”

What you’re likely actually saying here is, “I don’t want to think about my own death; it’s creepy!”

No one is arguing with you, but isn’t the idea of leaving your loved ones high and dry worse than a little discomfort about mortality? I’m not asking you to make your peace with the world around you and prepare for the great beyond. I’m saying that if you have people that depend on you, “eventually” should be tomorrow.